Getty Chase Claypool , formerly of the Chicago Bears.
The Chicago Bears are not going to walk away from the Chase Claypool situation completely empty-handed after all.
On Friday morning, the Bears officially traded the disgruntled Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round selection to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2025 sixth-rounder, a deal that allowed them to at least swap picks for a receiver they likely would have cut.
The Bears and Claypool have been on the road to separation ever since they made him a healthy scratch for Week 4’s game against the Denver Broncos and asked him to stay home rather than attend the game and support his teammates from the sidelines. They also told him not to return to Halas Hall to prepare for the Washington Commanders in Week 5, calling the decision “best for the team” without elaborating on the divide.
Chase Claypool Trade Didn’t Work Out for the Bears
Considering all signs pointed to a release, the Bears were lucky to get anything for him.
The result, of course, is not what the Bears envisioned when they originally acquired Claypool before the 2022 NFL trade deadline. Chicago had traded Pittsburgh its own second-round pick — one that ended up being the No. 32 overall selection in 2023 — for Claypool last November in hopes that he could be a difference-maker for its offense.
Instead, Claypool caught just 18 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown over 10 games as a Bear and became such a distraction that he lost his job a month into the new year.
Suffice it to say, the Claypool trade will go down as one of the worst decisions of Ryan Poles’ tenure as general manager of the Bears.
Could Bears Add Another WR With Claypool Gone?
The Bears still have six wide receivers on their active roster following the Claypool trade — DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Tyler Scott, Velus Jones Jr. and Trent Taylor — and might feel that is enough to keep their offense stocked and moving. Given the featured role that Claypool was expected to play in 2023, though, it is worth wondering if the Bears might consider adding another starter-level receiver to the mix.
Jarvis Landry, Kenny Golladay, Julio Jones and T.Y. Hilton are the best available veterans on the market at the moment, but the Bears might not be keen on adding receivers near or over the age of 30 with lengthy injury histories. If they want to gamble on a younger option who has shown flashes, they could also consider signing Bryan Edwards, who had 34 receptions for 571 yards and three touchdowns in 2021.
There’s also the trade market; although, Poles might not be eager to go back to the well given how the Claypool trade panned out. He can at least hang his hat on getting Moore from the Carolina Panthers in their exchange for the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, as his 230-yard game against Washington was the second-best ever by a Bears receiver. The other two receiver acquisitions, though — including the 2024 seventh-rounder he gave up for N’Keal Harry in 2022 — brought nearly no value to the team in the end.
Right now, the best course of action for the Bears might be sticking with the receivers they currently have and focusing on adding more talent to the position in 2024.